by Rev. Dr. Lance Moore
Recently, someone asked me, “Should Christians vote for a Mormon?” Evangelists like Jerry Falwell and Pat Robertson have long insisted we vote for conservative, Bible-believing Christian candidates. Suddenly in recent months, evangelicals have flip-flopped, abandoned their principles, to insist that we should vote for Mitt Romney, a Mormon, instead of Obama, who by all indications is an orthodox Christian. Why are they doing this? Should we ever vote against a Christian in favor of a Mormon? I’m a minister, but I believe we should not let religion dictate how we vote. There might be a time when I would vote for a Mormon. Just not THIS Mormon! Let me explain.
For the last forty years, hundreds of Christian books and articles have claimed that Mormonism is a cult, a false religion, a fantasy faith based on the fictional Book of Mormon. Sometimes called “the Mormon Bible,” it was written by Joseph Smith, who was proven in court to be a con artist and liar. (http://www.theprovocation.net/...)
These are not my words, but come from many reputable sources, such as the book, “Kingdom of the Cults,” which condemns Mormonism in the strongest terms, calling it a New Age Cult. Just eight years ago, most committed, conservative Christians would have been horrified at the thought of voting for a Mormon if he had been running against George Bush. They would solemnly warn: “Don’t vote for someone in a New Age cult... you can’t in good conscience vote for a follower of that heretic Joseph Smith.”
Many also warned that Smith was a blasphemer for writing his own “bible,” the Book of Mormon. The Book of Revelation (22:18 NIV) states: “I warn everyone who hears the words of the prophecy of this book (Greek = byblos/Bible): If anyone adds anything to them, God will add to him the plagues described in this book.” So Smith violated the Bible’s warning not just with a few words, but with an entirely new “bible.” If you study Mitt Romney’s religion, you will find that most of its theology and rituals come from Smith’s imagination... not from the Holy Bible.
Why, then, are so many conservative Christians supporting Romney? Last week, Rev. Billy Graham met with Mitt Romney, and promptly put out a veiled endorsement of the Mormon even as his staff removed Mormonism from their online list of “Cults.” And 2,000 evangelicals recently met in Washington D.C. to endorse Mitt. These are the same people that say every verse of the Bible must be obeyed (including Rev. 22:18). Is this hypocrisy?
Rev. Andy Woods of Sugar Land Bible Church came up with a loophole: he will vote for Romney because, quote, “I pick a president not based on his personal theology but rather upon his philosophy of government... [and on whose] philosophy better mirrors biblical values....” Well, Andy, I agree this much: I’m not going to vote for President based only on their theology... but it takes a mental contortionist to claim that biblical values and theology are two different things. Theology, what you believe about God, determines what your values are. How can you claim that Romney and Paul Ryan have “biblical values” when their personal beliefs are diametrically opposed to Scripture?? Ryan and Romney have a philosophy that is NOT consistent with what the Bible teaches. And it is not a trivial doctrinal difference: it is that they worship the idol of self, and make greed their god.
Allow me to prove this bold statement. Set aside Mormonism for a moment, and look at the Catholic candidate, Paul Ryan. He is devoted to the teachings of an atheist, Ayn Rand. Paul Ryan stated: “I grew up reading Ayn Rand and it taught me ...what my value systems are, and what my beliefs are. It’s inspired me so much that it’s required reading in my office for all my interns and my staff.” (in a 2005 speech, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, April 2009). That’s right, instead of giving out Bibles to his staff at Christmas, he bought them copies of her anti-Christian books. What an ironical Christmas-present, to read from the woman who wrote about “The Virtue of Selfishness.”
Yes, this Ayn Rand devotee´, Paul Ryan, paints himself as a friend to evangelicals, yet conservative Christian leader Chuck Colson warned that Rand’s views are the “antithesis of Christianity” and that Republicans who follow her Darwinian-based philosophy are, quote, “undermining the Gospel.” Thomas Reese, a Catholic priest who also condemns Rand’s philosophy, added, “Survival of the fittest may be okay for social Darwinists but not for followers of the gospel of compassion and love.”
Why don’t we read Rand’s own words:
•In a 1964 interview with Playboy magazine, Ayn Rand said, “What I am fighting is the idea that charity is a ...virtue.”
•She admitted: “Capitalism and altruism are incompatible....The choice is clear-cut...” and she chose “a new morality of rational self-interest,” a “morality of selfishness.”
•Rand rejects the God of Love, enthroning herself as god... quote: “I am done with the monster of ‘we,’...now I see the face of god, and I raise this god over the earth... This god, this one word: ‘I’.”
•And listen to what Rand wrote about the Genesis account of the Fall: she called Adam a “robot of the Garden of Eden,” and said he only became a man when he ate the Garden’s forbidden fruit. Rebelling against God and the Curse of Sin were good things for her. She added: “Faith is the worst curse of mankind...” [Atlas Shrugged]
That is the philosopher that Paul Ryan has chosen as his hero. Her idea that you and I can be gods is not unique to Rand; it is found in three other places. First, in the book of Genesis, where Satan tempts Adam and Eve to disobey the true God and become like gods themselves; it is found in the Church of Satan, whose founder, Anton LaVey, cites Ayn Rand as his main inspiration (Kim Klein, Washington Post, 1970), just as Paul Ryan does... and the third place we find this notion that we can be gods is in Mormonism... to which multi-millionaire Mitt Romney has a lifelong dedication.
But my problem with Mitt is not his New Age Religion as much as it is his rejection of the core teachings of Jesus Christ: concern and care for the poor and downtrodden. Jesus warned against greed and excessive wealth, he encouraged a society of love, sharing, and caring... and yes, he even paid his taxes, part of which went to the poor! But Romney’s vision is, like Rand’s, more Darwinian than Christian: a world of winners and losers, of 2% versus 47%, of individuals looking out for Numero Uno. That is a sharp contrast to the true church of Jesus Christ, described in the 4th Chapter of Acts: “All the believers were one in heart and mind. No one claimed that any of their possessions was their own, but they shared everything they had.” I wonder if that verse is missing from Romney and Ryan’s Bibles? Their brand of unregulated, greed-driven elitism is in total opposition to what the Bible teaches... and their top-down, selfish philosophy has ruled our country since Reagan, who began 30 years of a trickle-down war on the Middle Class. What happened with three decades of de-regulation, supply-side economics and rule by the rich? The income of the richest 1 percent soared 275 percent, while working class wages stagnated and Middle Class net worth declined 35 percent! (ABC News, Oct. 26, 2011 and June 18, 2012). The ultra-rich went from owning three mansions to owning six mansions—which, coincidentally, is how many Romney owned. Wall Street’s greed robbed Middle Class pensions, corporate profits soared under Reagan and Bush policies... and Ryan and Romney want more of the same. They will make sure that tax cuts and loopholes will continue for the upper class, they plan to bloat the size of the military to benefit defense contractors, just as Bush catered to corporations like ENRON. “Corporations are people, my friend,” Romney famously said. And what’s worse, these two men who claim to be Christian wrap themselves in a philosophy endorsed by Ayn Rand and Anton LaVey. They will continue to see greed as a virtue. As LaVey wrote in the Satanic Bible, “Blessed are the strong, for they shall possess the earth; Cursed are the weak, for they shall inherit the yoke!” So when Mitt Romney boasts of “success” and says he is “not concerned about the poor,” and dismisses the bottom 47% as economic losers, this reflects his values— the values that Reverend Woods claimed are biblical! Ayn Rand and Anton Lavey are enemies to Jesus... yet Paul Ryan and Mitt Romney’s philosophies are all too similar.
Rand, Ryan, Romney... they want the rich to rule. Should we vote for a man who made his living doing the same kinds of corporate takeovers that corrupted Wall Street, just because he claims to be Christian? I cannot in good conscience vote for THIS Mormon or THIS Catholic... Romney nor Ryan... not because of what their religions are, but because of what they stand for.
~~~
~Rev. Dr. Lance Moore is a Southern parish pastor whose latest book,
Class Crucifixion:
Money, Power, Religion and the Death of the Middle Class,
is available at www.Sky-Fy.com and at www.createspace.com/3811658 and on Kindle at www.Amazon.com
For more info, do an author search for “Lance Moore” or preview here: http://www.amazon.com/...